


Steps for Finding Comfort

by leontina (Leontina)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Cat Harry, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-22 11:05:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6077010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leontina/pseuds/leontina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco finds a cat waiting for him on his doorstep the same day Harry goes missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steps for Finding Comfort

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sugareey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sugareey/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Seeking Comfort](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/177621) by Sugareey. 



> This story is a remix of [Seeking Comfort](http://www.hdcareerfair.de/Dracotops/fest2013/66art/66art.html) by [Sugareey](http://sugareey.livejournal.com/), written for the [HD Remix Fest 2016](http://hd-remix.livejournal.com/)
> 
> It's a super cute mini-comic and you should totally check it out and leave the artist love. Some lines in this fic are paraphrased from the original artwork.

**Day 1: Find an annoying cat**

Draco was at the most exclusive dinner party of the year and he was miserable.

His father had been all too pleased when the Malfoy family were graciously accepted back into their pre-war social circles, mostly thanks to the vast amounts of gold that Lucius had bribed the right people with. 

Draco was expected to attend all these events alongside his parents, but the problem was that Draco just didn’t want to be there. Once upon a time he’d been enamored with the idea of power, wealth, and respect, but now he realised that it would only ever be a fantasy. If Draco played the game of his father’s then he’d be forever under the control of other people, forced to act in a certain way to keep his position in society. Draco had had enough of that with the Dark Lord.

But still, Draco hadn’t quite worked up the courage to tell his parents that he wanted to go his own way and choose his own path in life.

His father, unobservant as ever, nudged Draco in the shoulder lightly.

“The youngest Greengrass daughter keeps looking at you,” Lucius murmured. “They’re a very respectable family.”

“And she’s rather pretty, don’t you think?” Narcissa added, still oblivious to the fact that Draco had no interest in dating women.

“I suppose so,” Draco answered, not bothering to spare the girl in question a glance. “This dessert is exquisite; I must get the recipe from the chef.”

Draco’s parents may not have been aware of his viewpoints and wishes, but they did know when he didn’t want to talk about something, and luckily they let the topic drop.

Draco waited out the rest of the party by forcing smiles and making polite conversation, and left at the earliest possible opportunity. He couldn’t wait to get home, take off his dress robes and tie, and relax for the rest of the evening with no other disturbances.

Which was why Draco was not pleased to see a black cat waiting on his doorstep when he Apparated home.

The cat was almost entirely black, save for a splodge of white fur in the centre of its forehead. The cat’s eyes were vivid green and staring up at Draco intently, as though the cat had been waiting for him to get home.

“Shoo!” Draco hissed, shaking his hands at the animal. “Get out of here, cat. Go on.”

The cat just carried on looking at him.

Draco pulled his wand out and trained it at the cat, contemplating hexing it, but in the end he decided that he wasn’t the kind of man who hurt animals, no matter how annoying they were—plus the way the cat seemed to be glaring at him was kind of unnerving. 

Draco used his wand to unlock the front door instead and hurried inside, but the cat was faster and slipped in through the gap before Draco could shut it out.

“I’m sure you have somewhere better to be,” Draco grumbled to the cat, who had jumped up onto Draco’s sofa and was looking rather settled. “You know what? Whatever; stay awhile.”

Cats were cats, right? All Draco had to do was ignore it and not give it any food, and the cat would get bored in no time and leave. 

And if Draco appreciated coming home to company, he wasn’t going to admit that out loud.

 

 **Day 2: Be bothered by the cat. A lot**

As Draco was expecting the cat to have left overnight, he wasn’t too happy to be woken up by the animal nudging his face with its nose. 

“What do you want?” Draco groaned, scrubbing his face with his hands. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

Naturally, the cat didn’t answer him. Instead it just looked at Draco with those big green eyes. The only other being that Draco knew with eyes that green was Harry Potter—even the mere thought of Potter sent butterflies through Draco’s stomach. 

“Well fine, seeing as I’m awake now…”

Draco got out of bed and stretched his arms above his head, while the cat rubbed up against his legs excitedly.

“If you’re expecting food right now you can go home,” Draco told the animal. “Otherwise you’re going to have to wait until after my shower.”

Draco rather regretted that decision, because while he showered the cat stood outside the glass door watching him. That was a ridiculous thought, of course; cats didn’t understand nudity, or have the desire to see humans naked. Still, Draco showered quicker than he usually did.

He managed to find a tin of tuna in a cupboard which he scooped into a bowl for the cat, leaving the window open before retreating to the sofa in the lounge. Draco hoped that once the cat was full it would leave, but those hopes were dashed when the cat came trotting in after Draco.

Draco sighed. “You’re not going to leave me alone, are you?” he muttered, holding out his hand for the cat. “Just come here.”

The cat meowed happily, nuzzling against Draco’s hand and giving it a small lick. It purred loudly as it jumped up onto the sofa and onto Draco’s lap, settling down in contentment.

It was rather nice having a soft ball of happiness on his lap, Draco had to reluctantly admit to himself. The cat seemed to have no idea how much of an annoyance it was, and instead was happy just to be with Draco. Nobody else Draco knew, save for maybe his parents, liked him that much unconditionally.

“I suppose you need a name,” Draco mused aloud as he scratched the cat behind its ear. It lifted its head up in response, showing off that patch of white fur on its forehead. It almost looked like a bolt of lightning, but that was just absurd; Draco obviously just had Potter on his mind again. Still…

“I think I’ll call you Scarhead,” Draco decided, grinning until the cat bit his fingers lightly. “Oi, watch it!” he warned. “You want to stay with me, you’ll be called what I want to call you.”

Draco swore the cat rolled its eyes at him. 

 

**Day 3: Spoil the cat**

Draco tried not to smile as Scarhead chased the red dot on the floor which Draco was shining from his wand. He barely suppressed his laughter as Scarhead skidded on the floor with his front legs spread wide, almost crashing into a cupboard which was only avoided thanks to his quick cat reflexes.

Scarhead had been an unexpected source of amusement for Draco, who couldn’t deny that he had become slightly enchanted by the cat. Scarhead was boisterous and lively, and seemed to think the world of Draco. Scarhead’s favourite activities were jumping up onto high places, knocking things over, and bothering Draco at the most inconvenient of times. With his colourings, his annoying nature, and his daring attitude, Scarhead really did remind Draco of Potter.

Draco’s stomach fluttered again. 

He had had a crush on Potter at Hogwarts, but the Dark Lord’s presence had provided Draco with an excuse not to act on it. After his defeat, however, Draco had nothing to distract him. He didn’t see Potter much, admittedly, but they ran into each other on occasion. 

Potter had always been easy on the eyes, with his vivid green eyes, joyful smile, and that messy hair which Draco pretended to hate but really found quite sexy. And now they were older and out of school, Potter was less infuriating and more harmlessly annoying, making banter with Draco and offering him polite smiles when they didn’t have time to talk. 

There was too much history between them though, and Potter would never go for someone like Draco. Scarhead, on the other hand, didn’t care about the faded Dark Mark on Draco’s arm, and was happiest when he was curled up on Draco’s lap.

Scarhead meowed loudly, scratching on the cupboard door where he knew Draco kept the food under a Cooling Charm.

“Are you seriously still hungry?” Draco exclaimed as he opened the door and grabbed a drumstick which he tossed on the floor, prompting Scarhead to sniff it investigatively. “Look at all that other food I’ve given you.”

Scarhead fixed him with a pointed look before turning back to the drumstick. 

Okay, maybe eggs and corn-on-the-cob weren’t particularly cat-friendly foods, but Draco wasn’t all that clued up on pet care. He’d never had pets when he was younger, excluding his father’s peacocks, and having an animal in the house was a new experience.

Still, Scarhead seemed happy with the drumstick.

Both of them turned to look as an owl hooted outside the window, a large package clutched in its talons.

“Excellent,” Draco beamed as he opened the window and took his package from the owl, tossing it a treat before it left. “Look what I’ve got for you, Scarhead.”

Scarhead looked up at him curiously as Draco tore off the packaging and opened the box. The cat blinked as Draco tossed the yellow bird toy to the floor, and tapped it lightly with his paw.

“There’s more where that came from,” Draco promised, tossing down the jingly ball, the toy mouse attached to yarn for Draco to pull, the plastic stick with feathers at one end, and the small fabric tube which he enlarged so that Scarhead could fit into it.

As Scarhead studied his new toys, Draco reckoned that maybe he had gone a little bit overboard, especially as the multi-tiered scratching post would be arriving later, but Draco couldn’t be around all the time and Scarhead would need entertainment when Draco was out.

As Scarhead lunged from his new tunnel with his paws spread, Draco couldn’t hold back his smile.

 

**Day 4: Realise the truth**

Draco frowned as he unfolded the newspaper and caught sight of the large photo of Potter which graced the front page. The headline read: _Harry Potter Still Missing_.

That wasn’t a good sign. Potter kept his life private as much as he could, and his friends had to be very worried if they’d agreed to the Daily Prophet reporting on it.

Before he could read the rest of the article he heard the Floo roar to life. Draco dropped the paper to the floor as he hurried to answer the Floo, kneeling down as the face of his Aunt Andromeda came to view in the flames.

“Draco,” Andromeda greeted, her voice heavy with worry. “Harry’s missing.”

“So I heard,” Draco replied with a frown. Was his crush on Potter really that obvious that his aunt felt the need to inform him in person? “Why would I have any idea where he is?”

Andromeda’s eyes flickered to the sides briefly. “You two have been… _friendly_ lately. I wondered if he’d spoken to you. I’m worried, Draco. Harry was supposed to see Teddy a few days ago but he never showed up; Harry never lets Teddy down.”

“I haven’t been in touch with him recently,” Draco said. “Have you spoken to Granger or Weasley? They’ll probably know more than I do.”

“I have done,” Andromeda sighed. “All they said was that he likes to wander. His Animagus is a cat, you see, and-”

“A cat?” Draco froze, glancing at the wall which hid the black cat with green eyes from him. “I found a cat on my doorstep a few—Merlin! I’ll call you back soon, Aunt Andromeda.” 

Draco got to his feet and stormed into the lounge, where Scarhead was looking at him curiously. 

“Oh, don’t look at me like that,” Draco grumbled. “You are so dead, Potter. I’ll get you to change back.”

Concentrating on his transformation, Draco bent down on one knee as he turned into his Animagus form of a white cat. It was a long-kept secret of his, much like Potter’s had apparently been.

Scarhead meowed at him in confusion, rolling onto his back when Draco padded towards him. Draco could hear himself purring as he lunged for Scarhead playfully, the two of them rolling around in one big ball.

Now that Draco was in his cat form, he could definitely sense that Scarhead wasn’t all cat. That made a lot of sense, as Scarhead had seemed rather intelligent for a cat—but it also meant that Potter had purposefully watched Draco in the shower!

With that thought in mind, Draco lunged for Potter again.

They rolled around and played for almost two hours before they gave into exhaustion, falling asleep curled around one another.

 

**Day 5: Get answers**

Draco woke up the next morning completely naked, with an equally naked Harry Potter underneath him. This wasn’t the first time Draco wished Animagi could keep their clothes when they turned back to human.

And though Draco had a lot of questions, he was rather enjoying the feel of his skin against Potter’s. 

“Anything you want to tell me, Potter?” Draco breathed, his lips only inches away from Potter’s. 

That enticing mouth lit up in an embarrassed smile as Potter laughed lightly. “No idea what you mean, Malfoy.”

Draco gave him a pointed look. 

“Oh, you mean the cat thing?” Potter grinned. “Er, I can explain.”

“Please do,” Draco agreed.

“Sure, but could you let me up first?” Potter asked, a red blush coming to his cheeks. “The floor’s cold against my back.”

Draco rolled his eyes but stood up anyway, offering Potter a hand to help him up. He Summoned them each some clothes, and the sight of Potter wearing Draco’s trousers and jumper had Draco glad his body’s reaction was now hidden away.

“So I got fed up of people’s expectations of me,” Potter explained once they were seated. “And I wanted to get away for a while and be free.”

Draco could relate to that. Only…“why me?”

Potter looked away from Draco for a moment, the blush creeping back onto his cheeks. “You never expected anything from me.”

“And you watching me in the shower and curling up with me in bed had nothing to do with it?” Draco pressed, raising an eyebrow. 

“Maybe that had a little bit to do with it,” Potter finally admitted, glancing at Draco from under his lashes. “Sorry about that; you weren’t supposed to know I wasn’t actually a cat.”

“I do feel a little bit violated,” Draco said, leaning in towards Potter and placing a hand on his knee. “Take me out for dinner tonight and I’ll think about forgiving you.”

“Dinner? Alright,” Potter smiled. “Would a kiss help?”

“Immensely,” Draco said, before closing the gap between them and pressing their lips together.

**Author's Note:**

> The [fic link](http://hd-remix.tumblr.com/post/140919299324) and a [pull quote](http://hd-remix.tumblr.com/post/140934970427) have been cross-posted to **tumblr**. Help us promote the fest by liking and reblogging!
> 
> * * *
> 
> Comments are ♥. Leave them here or over on [LiveJournal](http://hd-remix.livejournal.com/97000.html).


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